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1. Reicher & Haslam (2006)‏ Central focus of the study: Do we act as individuals or as part of a group?

2. The study was a reaction to Zimbardo's 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo wanted to test why it is that prisons fail to rehabilitate offenders. Zimbardo thought it was the prison setting rather than the personality of the inmates and guards that was significant.

3. DISPOSITIONAL HYPOTHESIS (also known as Individual Hypothesis)‏ This views explains behaviour in terms of the individual – their nature, personality, outlook, character. If so, then all guards are sadistic, uneducated, insensitive and all prisoners are violent, aggressive, lawless fiends.

4. SITUATIONAL HYPOTHESIS The environment in which you find yourself is the strongest influence on your behaviour. If so, then you may enter prison as an unaggressive, sensitive person but the prison environment will turn you into a violent, angry, hostile person.

5. <ul><li>SITUATIONAL OR DISPOSITIONAL HYPOTHESIS? </li></ul><ul><li>1 A person who is jumping up and down, punching the air, yelling 'Arsenal!' and chanting songs. </li></ul><ul><li>2 A person, (adult), skipping down a supermarket aisle, singing loudly about fluffy bunnies and chucking packs of toilet roll in the air. </li></ul><ul><li>3 A person who is in the middle of an argument with their partner and stamps their feet and shouts loudly at one point during the argument. </li></ul><ul><li>4 A police officer who pretends to enjoy joining in with his colleagues' sexist treatment of a female colleague. </li></ul><ul><li>5 A police officer who shares a joke with some of the local winoes. </li></ul>

6. <ul><li>6 A teenager who tells her friends that she hasn't revised at all for the exam, even though she has. </li></ul><ul><li>7 A teenager who is suffering from anorexia. </li></ul><ul><li>8 A Headteacher who decides that every Tuesday from now is officially a holiday and that lessons are just 'so 2007' and is abolishing them in favour of magazine reading and break-dancing sessions. </li></ul><ul><li>9 A parent who hits the roof when they discover their teenaged son smoking pot, even though they themselves indulged in the habit when they were 17 too. </li></ul><ul><li>10 A contestant on the 'X Factor' who says, 'You haven't heard the best from me yet/Don't destroy my dream/I'm doing this for my family/pet hamster/drama teacher who believed in me so much'. </li></ul>

7. The Zimbardo SPE concluded that role dictates behaviour, supporting a SITUATIONAL HYPOTHESIS

8. Will the Reicher & Haslam BBC Prison Study reach a similar conclusion?

9. As you watch the short excerpt from the '5 Steps to Tyranny' programme think about how social identity theory, roles and group identification apply to R & H’s study.

10. Is it possible to blame the situation rather than the individual? Abu Ghraib prison, 2004

11. R & H's challenge to Zimbardo's results: * people do have control over their behaviour * if you blame the situation for behaviour then you can excuse anything, no matter how terrible ie holocaust, genocide * group membership has a powerful influence over behaviour, particularly if one identifies with the group (ie the Women's movement)‏

14. Quick Quiz: Sheep or human quality? * reflect before acting * baa a lot * new group member can bring about change * just follow behaviour of others * poo small pebble-like pellets on ground

15. Link to Milgram study: Participants are more likely to defy the experimenter when they are supported by confederates who are also of the same mind (e.g. disobedient). Milgram's subsequent trials explored this idea and found it to be true. Power in numbers!

16. Independent variables of R & H study: On Day 3: Pp's beliefs about the permeability of group boundaries – at start of study there was the possibility of promotion from prisoner to guard. R & H decided that from day 3 this was no longer possible. Likely effect on the prisoners?

17. Independent variables: Day 4: At start of study pp's told that guards had been chosen because of their personal qualities (ie reliable, trustworthy). R & H told the pp's that in fact there was no difference between prisoners and guards, the assigning of roles had been random. Likely effect on the prisoners' sense of group identity?

18. Independent variables: Day 5: Cognitive alternatives introduced – prisoner no. 10 introduced who had been a trade union official. R & H expected him to bring alternative plans/action to the group and to negotiate with the guards to bring about more equality between the 2 groups. Likely outcomes?

22. What happened? Start of study – g's in control, compliant p's. After day 3 – no promotion, p's become unco-operative, some g's uncomfortable with own authority. Prisoners rebel (they have strong group identity and cohesion) – organised breakout.

23. A new regime is introduced – 'a self-governing, self-disciplining commune'. Some former p's and g's become the new guards – they ask for black berets and dark glasses. Lack of shared identity and cognitive alternatives mean that the rest of the commune are aimless.

24. Day 8: R & H stop the study as they predict it is becoming too tyrannical and too like Zimbardo's SPE in terms of brutality and abuse of power.

25. Homework: Revise for a test on the R & H core study and related topics. Pages 162 – 167 of textbook. It will be useful for you to know about: - social identity theory - situational hypothesis - Inependent V's and Dependent V's - ecological validity as well as knowing details of the study.

26. R & H's conclusions: - different to SPE because events not determined by social role but by failure of certain groups (ie guards had no cohesion)‏ - same as SPE in that tyranny is a product of group processes, not individual evil - disagree with Zimbardo – people in groups can still control behaviour - indiv identifies with group only when it makes sense to do so

28. 3. Which of these was not an intervention used by R & H? a) introduction of new prisoner on day 4 b) promotion of a prisoner to guard c) stopping the study earlier than planned d) dressing the prisoners in drag 4. The guards failed because: a) they used violence b) they did not work effectively as a group c) they lost money gambling with the prisoners d) they had a spy amongst them

29. 5. Which of these was not a DV being measured? a) individual differences b) social variables c) clinical variables d) organisational variables 6. The 'commune' created by the pp's was judged 'unethical' by R & H on the grounds of it being: a) silly b) lacking in ecological validity c) a tyrannical regime d) boring

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